Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Jun 20, 2023; 13(3): 118-126
Published online Jun 20, 2023. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v13.i3.118
Epidemiological trends in acute pancreatitis: A retrospective cohort in a tertiary center over a seven year period
Andreea Irina Ghiță, Mihai Radu Pahomeanu, Lucian Negreanu
Andreea Irina Ghiță, Faculty of Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest 050474, Romania
Mihai Radu Pahomeanu, Lucian Negreanu, Internal Medicine I & Gastroenterology - University Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest 050098, Romania
Author contributions: Ghiță AI and Pahomeanu MR contributed to the collection of data, input of data, primary statistical analysis and drafting of the article; Negreanu L contributed to the article writing and final corrections; and all authors approved the final version of the article.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Emergency University Hospital of Bucharest (Spitalul Universitar de Urgență București).
Informed consent statement: Participants gave general informed consent at admittance for medical data to be used in medical research and consent was not obtained in particular for this study but the presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix and dataset available from the corresponding author at mihai.pahomeanu@drd.umfcd.ro.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mihai Radu Pahomeanu, Doctor, Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine I & Gastroenterology - University Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Splaiul Independenței 169, Sector 5, Bucharest 050098, Romania. mihai.pahomeanu@drd.umfcd.ro
Received: March 24, 2023
Peer-review started: March 24, 2023
First decision: April 27, 2023
Revised: May 4, 2023
Accepted: June 6, 2023
Article in press: June 6, 2023
Published online: June 20, 2023
Processing time: 87 Days and 16.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Acute pancreatitis (AP) remains a major cause of hospitalization and mortality with important health-related costs worldwide. Using an electronic database of a large tertiary center, we estimated the incidence, etiology, severity and costs of hospitalized AP cases in southern Romania.

AIM

To estimate the incidence, cost and tobacco usage of hospitalized AP cases in southern Romania and to update and upgrade the knowledge we have on the etiology, severity (in regard to Revised Atlanta Classification), outcome, morphology and local complications of AP.

METHODS

We performed an electronic health care records search on AP patients treated at Emergency University Hospital of Bucharest (Spitalul Universitar de Urgență București) between 2015 and 2022. The incidence, etiology, and severity were calculated; potential risk factors were evaluated, and the hospitalization costs of AP were documented and analyzed. The cohort of this study is part of the BUCharest - Acute Pancreatitis Index registry.

RESULTS

A total of 947 consecutive episodes of AP where the patients were hospitalized in the gastroenterology department were analyzed, with 79.45% as 1st episode and the rest recurrent. The majority of the patients were males (68.9%). Alcoholic (45.7%), idiopathic (16.4%) and biliary (15.2%) were the main causes. The incidence was estimated at 29.2 episodes/100000 people. The median length of stay was 7 d. The median daily cost was 747.96 RON (165 EUR). There was a high prevalence of active tobacco smokers (68.5%). The prevalence of severe disease was 11.1%. The admission rate to the intensive care unit was 4.6%, with a mortality rate of 38.6%. The overall mortality was 5.5%.

CONCLUSION

We estimated the incidence of AP at 29.2 episodes that required hospitalization per 100000 people. The majority of our cases were found in males (68.9%) and were related to alcohol abuse (45.7%). Out of the cases we were able to find data regarding tobacco usage, the majority were active smokers (68.5%). Most patients had a mild course (54.4%), with a mortality rate of 5.5%. Interstitial AP prevailed (45.3%). The median daily cost of hospitalization was 747.96 RON (165 EUR).

Keywords: Acute pancreatitis; Epidemiology; Revised Atlanta Classification; Mortality; Outcome; Cost

Core Tip: Retrospective cohort study on 947 consecutive hospitalized episodes (in 829 patients) of acute pancreatitis (AP) with the aim of estimating the incidence, cost and tobacco usage in AP cases and to update & upgrade the knowledge we have on the etiology, severity (as stated in Revised Atlanta Classification), outcome, morphology and complications of AP. Out of our study resulted that: The majority of patients were males (68.9%); alcoholic etiology prevailed (45.7%); estimated incidence: 29.2 episodes/100000 people; median daily cost: 165 EUR; median hospitalization 7 d; majority active tobacco smokers (68.5%); 11,1% severe disease; admission to intensive care unit 4.6%; overall mortality 5.5%.